Question by Michael: Is the Fundamentals of Computing a incredibly hard class?
hey guys, next quarter, I’m taking Calculus II, Engineering Physics II and Fundamentals of Computing (C++ Based) which I’m planning on dropping at the UW Bothell and taking something thatll raise my GPA a bit lol.
I’ve had a lot of experience with web design, there’s a point where I’ve designed webs through HTML coding for small online businesses but it seems like C++ is a whole different language.
Would it be a good idea if I drop this course and take it when I’m better prepared lol.
So many of my friends failed/got a low score for Computer Programming last quarter at UW Bothell so I’m planning on taking it at UW Seattle with more competent professors.

Best answer:

Answer by Mr. SmartypantsClasses whose names begin ‘Fundamentals of . . . ‘ should not be especially hard classes. They’re supposed to give you an idea of how something works, what’s involved, not as if you were going to do this for the rest of your life. They are usually for non-majors, or even people considering this as a major.

A Fundamentals of Computing class should never be teaching C++. Where I learned, they wouldn’t let you take C as a first language. You had to take Basic or Pascal or even Fortran to learn to program, THEN take C to learn the C language, which is very idiosyncratic, not for newbies. C is for programming ‘close to the machine’, for optimizing programs to be smaller and run faster and use less resources. NOT for your first experience in programming.

IMO if you wanted to learn programming you’d be better off taking a beginning programming class. Basic, Pascal, Python, something like that. That would give you a much better idea of how computers work, what you can do with them, how to get them to do what you want, etc.